Electrostatic Loudspeaker

Electrostatic Speaker designs use a high-voltage electric field to vibrate a thin membrane between two perforated conductive plates called stators. Unless paired with a hybrid design, using dynamic woofers (as MartinLogan speakers do), electrostatics don't need a crossover system the way traditional dynamic loudspeaker systems do.

Electrostatic speakers are best known for their "big" sound, most often referred to as a "wall of sound." They can be hard to drive, and are best matched with a high powered amplifier. Even the largest electrostatic speakers don't excel at bass reproduction, so all are best paired with a good subwoofer.

Other notable companies that make electrostatic speakers are Quad, Apogee, and Essence.

Though similar, planar magnetic speakers (like those from Wisdom and Magnepan) are not the same as electrostatic speakers.

Here's a tour of the best of today's flat and electrostatic speakers as well as some of the most historically important (or just crazy looking) speakers from the category.

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1. MartinLogan CLX
Built based on inspiration from the classic MartinLogan CLS speakers - these $25,000 hybrid electrostatics are to die for.

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2. Wisdom Audio Sage Series Planar Speakers
These modern in-wall or on-wall speakers have the open sound of electrostatic speakers but come with advanced room correction and the ability to bi-amp. Consider these the least likely audiophile speaker to cause a divorce. See future slides for the opposite effect.

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3. Magenpan MMG Speakers
These $600 speakers are a cult favorite even if the company purposefully picks the most frumpy looking women of the Midwest for models in their ads in audiophile print magazines. The company couldn't be more old school be it in their so-very-dated industrial design, their dealer model and beyond but people still love them. Despite having any meaningful bass, at $600 the MMGs are a most affordable way to get into thin speakers.

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4. King Sound
These flat speakers have better industrial design than Magnepans but don't pack the same history.

The World Is Flat and My Speakers Are Too

5. Innersound Eros Mark III
Check out these audiophile speakers that seem to be borrowing from the design language of MartinLogan's hybrid electrostatic designs without the curved panels.

7. Silberstatic
Germans love electrostatic speakers and killer industrial design. Here's an example of both in one pair of speakers.

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8. Audiostatic
Here is a 40 year old design that is still being sold today from Audiostatic.

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9. Apogee Grands
If you are looking for the Lamborghini Countach of loudspeakers - you've found it with the Apogee Grands. In California, most pairs of this long out-of-business brand fell over in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

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10. MartinLogan CLS
These classic speakers are highly collectable and nearly impossible to find. They are also nearly impossible to match to a subwoofer but that never stopped audiophiles from buying these gems.

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11. Magnepan Tympani
Can you believe 35 years later, Magnepan still makes speakers that pretty much look like this? Back in the 1980s - these folding screens were game changers if not divorce starters.

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12. Acoustat 3Acoustat speakers came in all shapes and sizes as long as they were huge. The company is long gone but they often were powered by Haffler amps back in their 1980 heyday.

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13. Acoutech
We went deep to find Acoustech (don't confuse with Acoustat) for this list of flat and electrostatic speakers.

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14. Sound Lab A3
Wilson and RBH get all the ink for speakers being made in Utah but what about the gigantic Sound Lab speakers? Reliability and form factor aren't the speaker's strong suit but the sound is alluring.

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15. Quad ESL 63
These electrostatic speakers have little to no bass and aren't really flat like a MartinLogan or Magnepan but in their day they sure had their fans including other top speaker designers and electronics companies as they make a sweet, sweet sound.

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16. Stax ESLF 81
Back into the way-back machine comes a pair of electrostatic speakers from Stax, a company known more for their exotic and lust-worthy headphones.

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17. Stax 407 Headphones
Speaking of Stax headphones, these aren't really flat speakers but they are so cool we couldn't leave them off the list. If you've never heard Stax headphones, you are in for a real treat.

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18. KLH Model 9
These are the electrostatic speakers that started the movement in the 1950s.

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20. Realistic Electrostatic III Tweeter
Need that electrostatic sound but have a pair of traditional, dynamic speakers? What is now Radio Shack's house brand had a solution for you back in the day - an extra tweeter.

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21. Cadence AudioCadence Audio brings the same electrostatic tweeter to the conversation with their speaker designs.

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22. ENIGMA Acoustics
Here is a modern day super tweeter company from Irvine California that's gaining popularity with audiophiles.

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23. Final Speakers
Ahh, Final Loudspeakers. We saved the best story for last. The guy that ran the company went to jail for fraud. The guy who imported them has ties to Mark Schifter (the Bernie Madoff of the AV industry) and the company is now out of business. But the speakers are electrostatic and flat.